This month, I had so many complete strangers reaching out to me to talk about buying and selling—more than any other time in my history of selling houses. Of course, you know when this happens – – it was just as I was preparing for a few days away. That’s how they say it works – – if you want to increase your business, just plan a vacation.
Speaking of being away, I remember when my youngest kids were little and we were out of our general area – – like if we went closer to Boston for anything. We would play a game with my youngest daughter called the Realtor.com game. The poor thing, now 23 years old, knew enough about real estate back in fourth grade that she would always win at the Realtor.com game. This game is very simple, I don’t think I’ll add it to my Road Trip Games of Our Childhood story, because it’s just so specific, and not very exciting. It would go like this – – we would see a for sale sign in front of a house, an hour or maybe two hours from home. We would all get as thorough of a look as we could get being that we were just driving by, and then we would guess to see what the price would be. Then my youngest would pull up Realtor.com and see what the listing price was or what it sold for. I would always marvel at what a split level in Waltham or Lexington would sell for – – and when my kids were little, this was pre-Covid, so I clearly remember saying “that wouldn’t even hit $200K in Westminster”. The kids always thought it was funny how much of a disparity there would be just an hour or so away, and we would decide to stay just where we are.
I’ve worked with a couple sets of buyers and sellers over the past few months who are joining forces with parents, or buying a house big enough to be able to have a separate living space for adult kids as they work through paying off student debt, saving for a down payment. People are getting creative. I’ve previously written stories about creating an accessory dwelling unit in your home, including the story of how we worked through the process to do that. In fact, I went one step further, and have a special permit through the Princeton planning board to rent a suite in my home if I ever wanted or needed to further monetize part of it. If you know a traveling nurse, I’ve got a spot. I’m not looking for a long-term tenant, just an occasional traveling professional with a 4 to 6 months stint.
Let’s talk about expectations as part of the closing process – – and what you should plan for related to your final walk through. Usually, I like to include tidbits of information like this because it has affected me or my clients in the timeframe since my last newsletter, and the items below are just that.
Final Walk Through
A final walk through is something that buyers do shortly before they close – – at a high level it’s to make sure that the property is being delivered in the condition it was when they offered, and to make sure that there’s no misinterpretation of say, the sellers taking something that you thought was going to be remaining at the house – – often times this plays out with the washer and dryer – – sellers want it, but buyers thought they were getting it. Obviously, this speaks to clear contract language, but even past that, sometimes things make it into the moving truck that shouldn’t. On the flip side, sellers sometimes underestimate how long it will take them to get out. They sometimes think a buyer might want this or that. Assume buyers don’t want anything. If there’s anything you question – – like maybe extra cans of paint or shingles, give me a list as we get within a few weeks of closing and we will find out from the buyers what exactly they do want. Kind of like your kids don’t want your brown furniture, it’s quite common that your buyers don’t want your paint colors – – even if you just finished painting. *Note on the photos above is that the sellers of this property got ahead of a final walk through and asked if a buyer might want this pile of rough firewood or the trampoline. The answer was NO on both, so we got rid of the items before it was an emergency.
Keep track of paperwork!
We’ve probably all, at at least one point in our lives, received a title to a vehicle in the mail from the registry of motor vehicles. There’s always satisfaction in seeing that large envelope arrive. Your vehicle is paid off, it’s yours, no lender has control of it anymore. And then you put it in a safe place – – a strong box, a file folder or a safe. But you’d never throw it out, right? It’s proof that you own the vehicle outright.
Did you know that when you refinance your home, a very similar process takes place? In this case, it’s often for something 10 times the value of the vehicle scenario above. Let’s say you pay off your mortgage or refinance. Your lender will send you discharge paperwork with a big stamp on it that says paid in full or something like that. They will also officially record this in the Registry of Deeds. The Registry of Deeds, like the Registry of Motor Vehicles, keeps pretty good track of who owns the property and who owns the vehicles–and in both cases, they know who the lienholders are. You’re not selling your vehicle without your lender knowing, and you’re sure not selling your house without your lender knowing.
People are sometimes surprised when I come to their house, to see that I can estimate what they owe on their property based on when they took out their last mortgage. It’s all public record. When there’s a real estate transaction in process, the buyer side of the transaction does title research to make sure that the seller has a clear title to be able to sell the property. For most people, the outstanding mortgage will be called out and paid off out of the seller’s proceeds from the sale – – before the seller gets any money in their actual pocket. That’s just how it works.
This title search often turns up other oddball items, and recently I had a transaction where the title search turned up two mortgages, from more than 20 years ago. The sellers knew the mortgages had been paid off because they refinanced with the same lender, but had no proof. It was very sloppy lending. This forced the transaction to have a very delayed closing – there were a lot of nerves, and other transactions were affected – it was very uncomfortable. The process to find and discharge those old mortgages, through the lender, can take a month or more. There was a time where people were refinancing each year, as the rates went down – – it was cheap enough to refinance, and if you were staying in your house, the payback time made it worth it. If you refinanced once or several times, and want to have assurance that your old mortgages have been discharged, just reach out and I’ll look it up for you.
I had so many other oddball things happen this month, I’m still tired from them. I’ll save the rest of them for next month. And mark my words, I’m going to write a book about these things. Not an actual book that would be for sale (doesn’t sound like a bestseller in the making), but a book for my seller clients to get ahead of pitfalls that are lurking.
As always, reach out for anything real estate related — or anything local you think I might be a resource for. I’m here, I’m busy, and I’m happy to help.
If you’d like to talk about getting your home ready to sell, considering multi-generational living, should you stay or should you sell, figuring out the right ownership structure, or finding a good home for that wedding dress — I am genuinely local, genuinely accessible, and I have a lengthy track record of extremely satisfied clients–both buyers and sellers. If you, or anyone you know, are moving to (or from) Central Massachusetts, I’m here to deliver an exceptional experience. My team combines strong communication, proven strategies and deep local expertise to guide throughout the home selling and buying process. If you’re considering the purchase or sale of residential real estate, you owe it to yourself to have a confidential conversation with me.
Jennifer Shenk, Real Estate Broker
Keller Williams Realty North Central
107 Main Street, Westminster
Call/Text: 978 870 9260
Email: jennifershenk@kw.com
